Duff-Baby House, Windsor

Credit: Ontario Heritage Trust Duff-Baby House, Windsor

Alexander Duff (1770-1809), one of the founders of Sandwich, built the
house in 1798 and used it as a base for his fur-trading operations for
nine years. James Baby, a prominent Upper Canadian politician, military
officer and businessman from an old Quebec family, purchased the house
from Duff in 1807. During the War of 1812, Baby is reputed to have
hosted a dinner attended by the great Shawnee chief Tecumseh. The house
survived attack, occupation and looting by American troops. In his claim
for losses, Baby stated that it had been "stript." The older
neoclassical interior fittings appear to date from the house's post-war
refitting.

Read “Choosing sides: French presence on the Detroit frontier during the War of 1812,” by Guillaume Teasdale, an article from the May 2012 special edition of Heritage Matters entitled Understanding the French experience in Ontario.